Mbeki 'fed-up' with humiliation

2006-10-08 16:11

S'Thembiso Msomi

Johannesburg - An angry President Thabo Mbeki has vowed to uncover those he believes to have been behind the humiliation he suffered at the hands of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma's alleged supporters at Kingsmead stadium in Durban last weekend.

Mbeki, who was in Durban last Sunday as part of a series of events to celebrate Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's state visit, watched in disbelief as Zuma's supporters staged an impromptu protest before walking out of the stadium en masse.

Mbeki was also expected to raise the matter during his political report at the meeting of the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Saturday.

City Press newspaper could not confirm whether the NEC did discuss the matter. But an NEC member had told the newspaper that even if Mbeki did not raise it, other members were certainly going to do so.

Zuma attended a family funeral in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday and was not at the meeting but was present on Friday when Mbeki did not attend.

The Kingsmead stadium incident has resulted in accusations and counter-accusations among senior ANC and government leaders in KwaZulu-Natal, who are divided between "pro-Mbeki" and "pro-Zuma" camps.

A number of senior government officials in the province have alleged that certain "pro-Zuma" ANC leaders in the Durban region had encouraged the protest.

But this has been denied by Zuma supporters in the province who claim that poor organisation, on the side of government, had resulted in the stadium being empty.

They have also claimed that the people who walked out of the stadium after being told Zuma would not be present, had done so because they had initially been "lied to" by the organisers who had said the ANC deputy president would be one of the speakers.

But in his online ANC Today column on Friday, it was clear that Mbeki believes that the incident was orchestrated by his political opponents.

"In time the full truth will be told of what happened that kept our people away from Kingsmead on October 1. The truth will be told of who those were, who did what they did on the stands of the stadium to disrupt the prayers said by our religious leaders ..." Mbeki said.

ANC leaders say the president was particularly hurt by a poor turnout in a province where, historically, people have always come out in their numbers to support government functions.

"I know this as a matter of fact that the excellently prepared Sahara Kingsmead stadium did not inadvertently find itself serving as a site for the perpetration of acts of national humiliation for the reason that the masses of our people have turned their backs on the noble values ... and on their own glorious history of struggle," Mbeki said.

Mbeki's remarks come as some members of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) say they will be calling for an internal investigation into the matter.

"It is quite embarrassing not just for the president, but for us as the leadership of the province. No matter what one may think of the president and comrade JZ, the truth is that those people put all of us to shame - Mbeki camp or not," said one senior PEC member.

ANC provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu said on Saturday that the party in KZN has not taken up the issue because the function had been organised by government.

Political commentator Aubrey Matshiqi said Mbeki's remarks on the Kingsmead incident were in contrast to what he has said about Zuma's supporters in the past.When he commented about the burning of Mbeki T-shirts in the past, the president took a magnanimous approach - emphasising the right of everyone to protest.

"But the comments show that he is angry and embarrassed ... A poor attendance at such a function with a visiting head of state is embarrassing because it says your head of state cannot pull in the crowds," Matshiqi said.

He said the organisers were naive to think that Durban was "safe" for Mbeki to go to and said the incident has added to perceptions that Mbeki's "crisis of isolation" continues to deepen.

- City Press